LyrArc Article Gist
Burnham unites UK party Labour on the Hillsborough families and commends Starmer for handling it. What a difference Burnham's style of governing makes even before he takes office as prime minister. Labour looks different after the Makerfield byelection. Britain is waiting.

LyrArc Article Gist
The effort to revive India-U.S. relations after the visa episode and the landslide win by Narendra Modi in India's 2014 parliamentary elections.

LyrArc Article Gist
This piece by Cambanis in the NYT shows how even Syrian Free Army soldiers have switched sides to join the ISIS extremist Sunni militia. Sheikh Hassan a Syrian Free Army brigade leader describes the case of Mustafa who switches sides for a higher salary wih ISIS. ISIS gave Mustafa triple his salary at the Free Syrian Army - increasing it to $400. In a region with many unemployed youth the ISIS pays salaries for joining, and taps Sunni frustrations in Iraq, with money raising and financing capabilities a critical part of the organization's capabilities. A piece by Nordland shows how the ISIS's crude but effective money raising uses taxes and other illicit ways to increase revenues. This provides a unique insight into what is happening in Iraq and Syria after the failure of the U.S. to effecively support the Free Syrian Army and moderate groups in Syria, the premature withdrawal from Iraq, and the frustrations of Sunnis built up under the government of prime minister Maliki openly favoring Shiites. This has provided an opening for extremist groups in the region, and created more tangles for the Obama administration as its policies to distance itself from the region have not let it extricate itself from the U.S.'s important role in the region. The vacuum created by these policies has been filled by extremist organizations and created about 2 million refugees- a large humanitarian crisis and undone years of effort by U.S. soldiers in Iraq. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
George Washington shown in the early parts of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) that drove the French from Quebec and North America. In these early battles Washington fought in the Pennsylvania country near Pittsburgh under the British commanders against the Indians and the French. This taught George Washington many things about a war in America's vast forests, the risks and dangers, the best way to keep on fighting a long war in which the British would eventually fail to prevail. After defeat on 2 nights on frozen ice on a lake fleeing French and Indian forces Washington survives, and grasps the idea of divine providence in the struggle against colonial powers France and then Britain. This prepared Washington for a different strategy in the war against the British, learning from the defeats of the British by Indians in forest conditions with quick offense and quick retreats and no large engagements. The entire war was characterized by this quick offense, strategic retreats, and preserving the American army's strengths, as an approach to conduct the fight. Montgomery tried a direct march on Quebec and failed in the early days of the war of independence against British forces. This also reinforced Washington's strategic approach that the British would only lose in a long drawn out war under certain conditions, to avoid direct engagement with large armies or decisive battles till the right moment. Washington enlisted a young French officer Lafayette as a commander in his army knowing the importance of the French to neutralize the British naval power on the seas. When this stage was reached Washington could quickly move his army north to surprise the British by surrounding their forces under Lord Cornwallis resting at Yorktown, Virginia after being harassed in small engagements by American forces in the South. For that to happen Washington had the logistics feat to accomplish of moving cannon and forces up rivers and forests to the north, something practiced in the Pennsylvania region in the fight against the French and their Indian allies. The early part of the war the engagement with the French and Indians was formative for Washington and is the experience that is covered in the book "Young Washington," now made into a movie. The night spent on the frozen river in Pennsylvania country fleeing the Indians and French and surviving was always for Washington an act of divine protection. It may be also the reason why Washington saw his role not as his own but for a larger purpose, leading to handing over his appointment as commander in chief back to Congress in Annapolis in 1783 after the war had ended and peace treaty was signed. We refer to this as a defining moment in The First Letter from the Editor for Lyrarc.com, reflecting on divine protection and the responsibility that goes with it for the Nation that should never be forgotten. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
UK Eu relations revive under Starmer. The minister for EU relations in Starmer's cabinet shows how this will be done.

LyrArc Article Gist
New 12.5% and 10% tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on 60 countries starting July 24 2026 when earlier tariffs expire. The earlie tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court as not legally valid because of the statute used. Even though a lot of new media attention was placed on that tariffs move in 2025 and 2026, the same tariffs are back in place. Most if not all of the major trading nations, knew that the best policy was to negotiate an agreement on tariffs with the DJT administration. Countries like Switzerland that were late to negotiate were hit with higher tariffs and opted to sign agreements.  US seeks to get back the supply chain it ceded to China through mistakes made by previous administrations over 30 years. Was the US Supreme Court in a position or inclined to set this back. It simple said use another statute. Congress supported the US president in his action to bring Make in the USA back particularly in the 250th year of the Declaration of Independence. Now Jamieson Greer, head of the Office of the US Trade Representative has reset reestablished the tariffs under a legally valid Section 301. He has also conducted the Investigations on each country required under Section 301 to show that these countries had not met US standards for fighting forced labor. There is likely to be no further media attention to be critical of this move- was all the time attacking a tariffs move without considering the importance of returning supply chains to the US, returning manufacturing to the US? It appears to be when seen at the level of the US economy as a whole. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Diana Nyad makes a second attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. This is her second attempt, the last one in 1978. After the 1978 attempt she settled into a career as a radio and television journalist. She is now 61. One day when she was driving in Los Angles the thought went through her mind about what she felt she wanted to do most- and this was to make the effort one more time to cross the distance between Cuba and Florida. In August 1978 her effort failed because of high winds and eight foot waves. After 49 hours and 41 minutes she found herself way offcourse closer to Brownsville, Texas, as the nearest land point. Here Sally Jenkins documents that first swim and the preparation for the second one, coming long after the first at the age of 61. Last summer Nyad swam for 24 hours on the coast of Florida as part of the training. Nyad will have the help of scientific advance in the three decades since 1978. Jennifer Clark, a satellite oceanographer based in Annapolis and her husband Dan, a meteorologist, are experts on Gulf stream water conditions. They will look for a three day period when waves are calmer and water conditions are warmer. Another advance is the use of kayakers with devices that create electric waves who will paddle alongside her to ward off sharks. And Nyad has Dr Broder, a clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, to help monitor her physical condition and fluid loss. Still as Broder says, its 98% about Nyad's focussed effort. And about age, Nyad says, she forgets, as she trains by swimming from island to island in the Caribbean. For oceanographic expert Jennifer who is 65, there is something vicarious about Nyad's effort, as it is for the others who are helping with the expedition....